Let It Ride
by LoneTread
Summary: Gambling, and thought, and more gambling. Pastfic, Larry POV.
1. In

**A/N:** So I went to Vegas with my family over Spring Break, came home and went to sleep, and woke up at 3:30 in the morning with this nice little double-drabble in my head. Truth be told, it's somewhat pointless, but I like it a lot. Enjoy. (Oh, and by the way, I'm eighteen. I can't gamble. I just watch. If I screwed something up, let me know.)

* * *

**Let It Ride **

I walked in alone, past the penny slots, and the five-cent slots, and the others. I looked at the numbers displayed on their faces to differentiate them, and played with them in my head as I walked, to calm my nerves.

201737. Prime. Digits add to 20, and 201 and 737 is….

I stopped. I was at the table. I sat down next to a man with a cigar, and its smoke made my eyes water, invaded my lungs. I let myself cough. Looking as young as I was was an advantage now.

Glancing towards me briefly, the dealer asked the other man to please put out the cigar. He shook his head, stood, and left, and the dealer didn't seem displeased. I guessed he'd been winning.

I played some and lost spectacularly, as I'd known I would. I knew the odds here. Everyone knew the odds here.

But not _here_, not now, at this table. Us – we were better than the odds.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my roommate strolling up.

No recognition. Don't pay attention.

And from the other direction, I spotted another of my friends headed our way.

Ah, yes.

Finally.

Let's play.


	2. Out

**A/N:** Yeah, this was supposed to be a one-shot. This, though – this is the last chapter. I promise. (And it's 400 words even.) Oh, and to give credit where it's due, a huge majority, if not all, of the detailed information in this chapter is from the _Wired_ article "Hacking Las Vegas" (linked in my profile). That's also where I pulled some of the characters' names from. Finally, "let me know if I screwed up" still applies. Okay, that's all; you can go read now.

* * *

We played for a while, and it soon became clear that we weren't doing very well. But I was concentrating on the cards, and the tally in my head was slowly, steadily, rising.

Minus one…plus one, plus one…plus one….

Nonchalantly, I dropped my arms to the table, crossed in front of me –

_The count's hot. Get in here now._

– hopefully appearing to merely be contemplating raising my bet. But I didn't – I never would. Stick to the minimum so no one's suspicious: the spotter's Golden Rule. We were to leave the big wins to –

Good, here he came. Jacob Finley had certainly perfected the confident swagger. (In my opinion, it was now officially an art form.) He sat himself down at the far end of the table, leaving a complete stranger in between us, and plunked down a pile of chips.

I prayed this was the hand for that.

The cards were dealt. I had seventeen. Jake, though, had a grin on his face.

Twenty-one.

The 3:2 payout meant we'd done spectacularly. Finally, the tide was turning.

Then I felt eyes on me. I looked up, and Andy, my roommate, met my gaze. He'd left our table several hands ago and just stood casually some distance away since then. Now he watched us, his hand in his hair and his expression serious.

I froze. That signal was too familiar – we'd begun to see it more often recently, as one place or another would catch on.

_Get up, get out, _now

I scooped up my chips in a hurry and Jake followed suit, pocketing our winnings and heading for the door. Trying not to look panicked, I made my way over to Andy and turned to watch.

The two men who had been striding toward us only a moment ago now stood in front of Jake. "Excuse me," one said, "but we can't have you gambling here anymo—"

"I was just leaving," we heard Jake reply. He darted around the pair and was through the doors in a flash.

We left a few minutes later and met up with some of the others from school who had been playing a few tables away. Kenny, Max, Leonard.

I turned to face them all. "I can't do this anymore," I admitted finally.

"It's been fun, but…."

They nodded, filling in the blanks.

And after a moment, I turned and walked slowly away.


End file.
